Abstract:

This article searches for ancient documentary evidence to trace the historical definitions of the dynamic Western concept of “Grammar”. In general, Grammar has gone through four stages: the grammatical arts of typical languages in the ancient Greco-Roman period; the science of discourse (including speculative grammar, universal grammar, and comparative grammar) from the late Middle Ages to the 17^th–18^th centuries; the emergence of national grammars in the late 15^th century and the return to the pedagogical grammar of individual languages from the 18^th to the 19^th centuries; and the shift toward a combination of descriptive grammar and explanatory grammar in the late 19^th century. This reflects a cycle in the academic history: from the particular to the general, from the general back to the particular, and then to the combination of the particular and the general. In terms of scope, grammar has undergone a contraction or focusing— from multiple modules to four, then three, and finally two modules— with rhetoric, semantics, lexicology, phonetics, and other components being separated one after another. In essence, applied arts and basic principles have always been the two core tasks of grammar, and language research represents the integration of humanistic and scientific spirits.

Key words: grammar, grammar art, discourse science, universal grammar, comparative grammar, pedagogical grammar, description and explanation